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News #187: Ho Chi Minh City construction update
Unofficial HCMC Metro website, pan-Borneo railway, Philippines gets new railway funding offers, Japan pledges support for Vietnam HSR
Hello from Chiang Mai. This week I published the 5th annual Ho Chi Minh City construction report. It was in HCMC where I began to take an interest in urban development in Southeast Asia, which lead to starting this site.
It was in HCMC where I also found an interest in urban rail transit while waiting for the metro to open. I have probably bookmarked every single news article about the metro, so the next logical step has been to make a website about it (link below).
I have a visa run coming up next week, and I should have two more construction reports for 2023.
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Ho Chi Minh City construction update – 2023 edition
This is the 5th annual Ho Chi Minh City construction update at Future Southeast Asia.
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New site: hochiminhcitymetro . com
I started a new website about the HCMC Metro at hochiminhcitymetro.com. The metro is supposedly opening in July 2024, so I figured I would make a guide. that will be ready when it opens.
Without any metro lines running, I wondered what the site would look like if every proposed line was running, so I added all the future lines on the navigation bar.
I will put news updates on the Facebook page.
News
🇰🇭 Cambodia
• Angkor international airport set for Nov 16 official inauguration
• PM urges provincial administrations to focus on building roads not parks
🇮🇩 Indonesia
• Concerns over China-backed high-speed railway do not derail Indonesia’s agency
• Greater Jakarta LRT problems won’t be solved until late November
• Indonesia's quest for developed country status faces economic hurdles
• Việt Nam’s EV maker VinFast to invest $1.2 billion in Indonesia
• Indonesia’s president pushes US on what happened to the $31b
• Jokowi attends groundbreaking ceremony of Bank Indonesia office building in IKN
• Rempang residents continue to resist national strategic project
🇱🇦 Laos
• Bokeo International Airport to start operations by end of 2023
• Vientiane residents call for immediate action on garbage pileup
• Visiting the Thanaleng Dry Port: Mongolian business executives seek opportunities
• Bridge in Savannakhet collapses under 42-ton truck
• Boten: How China’s investment transformed this Laotian town
🇲🇾 Malaysia
• MYHSR Corp extends deadline submission for KL-SG HSR RFI concept proposals to Jan 15, 2024
• Govt to study feasibility of building pan-Borneo railway, says Transport Minister
🇲🇲 Myanmar
• Govt designated entity consortium to be established to implement Kyaukphyu deep-sea port project
🇵🇭 Philippines
• PHL seeks $6.53B in loans from ADB for 15 projects
• Philippines says Japan, South Korea, India offer to fund railway projects
• DOTr chief: Railway projects vital in fixing NCR gridlock
• Another Turkish firm eyes to bid for NAIA rehab project
• 10 years after Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines’ Tacloban city rises from the ruins
🇸🇬 Singapore
• SBS Transit marks 50 years, will open new bus driver training centre, collaboration hub
• Zaha Hadid's Science Center breaks ground in Singapore
🇹🇭 Thailand
• Rail plan sped up to meet deadline
“Govt eyes 2027 finish for dual-track system.”
• As Phuket tourism market recovers, potential infrastructure crisis looms
• A closer look at Thailand’s THB1trn Land Bridge for global trade
"The plan to build a “Land Bridge” from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea as a route for international trade was given the green light on October 16."
• Anti-land bridge banners emerge in Phato district of Chumphon province
• Call for Ayutthaya logistics hub
• Ratchaprarop intersection in Bangkok closed due to subsidence
🇻🇳 Vietnam
• Construction of North-South high-speed rail route to begin by 2030
• Japan pledges support for multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail project
• Can Vietnam reach its offshore wind power goals?
• Hanoi to build five bridges to develop urban areas along Hong River
• Long Biên to become new city centre on the riverbank
• Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta is running out of sand. What’s next?
• Province wants preferential loan to remove Da Lat greenhouses
• Work on urban project stopped for encroaching on Ha Long Bay
“An urban project in Ha Long Bay that encroaches on a protected area has been put on hold for some environmental issues to be resolved.”
• $450mn Cocobay Da Nang tourism, entertainment complex abandoned